Application used for settlements validation within 15 kilometers of the Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia borders

Summary

On July 20-22, 2018, five volunteers participated in validating settlement names and locations within 15 kilometers of the Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia borders. This Cross Border area has been identified as being at high-risk for polio outbreaks and the spread of the virus between countries. During the first week of August, WHO planned to set up vaccination stations at border crossings to help stop the spread of the virus. One of the first steps in this process was to identify all settlements within 15 K of the borders.

Volunteers

This project required GISCorps volunteers that were familiar with the area. Allan Njoroge, Mohamed Ismail Muhumed, Johnny Thannivelil Sebastian, Kennedy Kiema Kandia and Deborah Haggith Jepkoech Biwott worked with an ArcGIS Online application to review, verify, add and adjust the locations and names of settlements that WHO had gathered from sources like OpenStreetMap and local WHO staff. Due to low availability of the internet and the need to access high resolution imagery, many of the volunteers struggled to use the AGO app but over 50 settlements were validated.